AIMPLB set to corner Congress in UP polls

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board is all set to corner the Congress party with its demands relating to four pieces of legislation which influence their welfare and development.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) is all set to corner the Congress party with its demands relating to four pieces of legislation which influence their welfare and development.

The AIMPLB has for long been demanding that the madarsas be kept out of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. They have also been demanding amendments to the Waqf Act, Direct Taxes Code Bill, and the Zamindari Abolition Act, the last to ensure equal status for women in distribution of property. The Board’s campaign at the time of the UP poll could spell serious electoral trouble for the Congress.

Zafaryab Jilani, member of AIMPLB, told DNA on Saturday that the Board would take up these issues at its meeting on Sunday in Farrukhabad, which happens to be Union law minister Salman Khursheed’s constituency. His wife Louise is contesting the assembly poll here. Jilani said similar meetings to highlight these issues would soon be organised in Rae Bareli (Sonia Gandhi’s constituency) and Amethi which is represented by Rahul Gandhi.

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has tried to allay the Muslims’ discomfort in this regard by assuring that the Centre was ready to keep madarsas out of the purview of the RTE Act. He has also said that the UPA government was willing to consider the other demands also. “But these issues should not be politicised,” he told reporters here recently.

However, the AIMPLB is not satisfied. “All we have been getting are assurances from the Congress. Now we will take the matter to the people,” he said. “When Salman Khursheed’s promises on these issues have come to nothing, how do you expect us to believe Digvijay Singh. We are not willing to be fooled anymore,” he said resentfully.